The Dessert, or After Dinner, 1921
Pierre Bonnard (French, 1867-1947)

In this scene of two figures lingering over coffee and dessert, the woman leaning on her elbows at the far right is Marthe Bonnard, the artist's wife and favorite model. The smoking boy has not been identified. The painting is not about these individuals, however. Rather it explores the simple pleasures of daily life. Light streams into the room from the right to illuminate the gleaming china and the central still life of fruit, rendered with delicately dappled light and greedily eyed by a brown dog. Meanwhile, the casual clutter of china and fruit, along with the crystal vase and exotic flowers on the sideboard, serve as vehicles for the painter's exploration of color. The picture may have been painted either at Bonnard's country house at Vernon, just north of Paris, or at his summer home near Cannes in southern France.